William Tennent clinched a share of the SOL National Conference title Thursday. Check out all the results.
WILLIAM TENNENT 12, BENSALEM 1 (5 innings)
With a chance to own a share of the SOL National Conference at stake, the Panthers took care of business, putting on an offensive clinic while Nikki Alden was once again in command on the mound.
“I told the girls – championships don’t happen often at William Tennent,” coach Biz Keeney said. “I made it real clear to them – you’re playing for a championship, and you’re playing for a high seed.
“Co-champion or flat out champion – nobody can ever take that away from you, and that’s something you’ll never forget as a group. Those are special moments, I don’t care what anybody says. I’ve been fortunate to have two of them at the high school. We’re not a championship contender in sports every year or every day of the week. I’m real proud of the kids for the effort they put through to this point, and we still have work to do. I think we can get better.”
By the time the day was over, the Panthers had not only won their first conference title in memory but also earned the top seed in the upcoming District One AAAA Tournament.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I dream we would be a one,” Keeney said. “I was hoping at the end of the day we would be a top four and then you go from there. It’s an exciting day for our kids, and they have a lot to be proud of.
“I thought our approach today was excellent. We stayed very positive the last couple of days at practice. I thought we saw the ball really, really well today. We hit the ball, and that’s what we have to keep doing.”
Laura Petri had a pair of home runs – a solo the second and another in an 11-run third, and Alden hit a grand slam to highlight the third inning. Petri finished the day 3-for-3 while Alden was 2-for-3.
“We batted Petri in the four spot,” Keeney said. “If you don’t throw to Alden, you’ve got to throw to Petri.
“Last week they walked Alden to get to Petri, and she hit a grand slam. It’s a situation where it’s a pick-your-poison type deal.”
Katie O’Toole, and Keri Ledford each had a pair of hits.
“We hit up and down the lineup,” Keeney said. “We’ve got some tough outs. Our freshman in the seven spot – Marissa Govan – tripled. Keri Ledford in the nine hole had a good day.
“It was a really, productive day at the plate for us. Kids have really, really stepped up, and I think they’re excited and excited for each other, and that’s kind of a neat thing to watch from a coaching standpoint. There’s not a ton of pressure because they all can hit. You run into stretches where kids press a little bit, but it’s tough to press when people are hitting.
“We defended well like we have been, and Nikki threw the ball well. We’re playing well at the right time, and that’s all you can ask for.”
After throwing back-to-back no-hitters, Alden allowed two hits while fanning three in Thursday’s win.
“Bensalem – they beat Cheltenham yesterday, they’ve beaten some people in the crossover games,” Keeney said. “In the crossover games, they’ve been very, very solid.
“The first time we played them it was a 2-0 game, and we scored two in the seventh to beat them. I really liked how we approached the game. I thought we played with a purpose. We were really into it today. As a school, we can’t be any happier for the kids. That’s the part I look at.”
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COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 4, PENNRIDGE 1
It was mission accomplished for the Indians on Thursday.
They not only won their fourth game in a row to close out the regular season, they also earned a coveted home game in the upcoming district tournament.
“Districts has always been quite a challenge for us,” coach Hollie Woodard said. “Even though we know we can play good ball, it’s just been challenging to get into it.
“Every year we start off with a goal to make the postseason. We want to honor our seniors by earning another game for them to play, and it’s exciting for us that we were able to do that.
“We have four really strong seniors on our team this year, and they deserve another home game. It was exciting we could get that home game for them. Right now we’re just going to be focused in on going seven innings and getting another seven.”
The Lady Rams took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, but the Indians rallied to knot the score in the fourth. With one out, Marissa Gergel walked, and Hannah Mumber followed with an RBI double. Singles by Taylor Amazeen and Bailey Bigler as well as a pair of successfully executed squeeze plays highlighted a three run seventh for the Indians. Bigler led the Indians with a 3-for-4 day at the plate.
Amanda Camp, who threw two scoreless innings in relief, earned the win on the mound. Hannah Mumber threw the first five.
The Indians closed out the regular season with an 11-7 record while the Rams were 7-12.
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CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 9, UPPER DUBLIN 5
It had been a long time between wins for the Bucks – since their March 27 win over Cheltenham to be exact, but they celebrated Senior Day in style on Thursday, sending their 10 seniors out with a win.
“It was a very tough year from a win-loss perspective, but the last half of the year, I really felt that we played better,” coach Jim Taylor said. “The scores may not have been reflective of it. There may have been a play or two that blew things open.
“We played Souderton real tough the other day. It was 6-4 going into the final inning. We played CB East real well where if you take away a couple of defensive miscues, you’re literally talking a 2-1 game, and both of those teams are in the playoffs. In every one of our games except one, we narrowed the gap (the second time around).
“We set goals, which we probably didn’t have when the season started. We set goals from an enthusiasm standpoint to winning first innings. The scores may not show that, but I believe we played a lot better the second half of the year.”
The two teams were deadlocked 1-1 after one inning, and the Bucks took a lead they would never lose in the second when they went on top 2-1. They blew the game open in the fifth inning with senior Amanda Wolfgang delivering a huge bases-clearing double to plate three runs and give the Bucks a 6-1 lead. The Bucks’ veteran received the game ball.
Alexa Kaminski earned the win.
“She pitched well all day,” Taylor said. “We ran into a little bit of trouble in the last inning where they did get four on us, but we held on to win the game.”
Taylor played primarily all seniors with the only non-senior starters the pitcher and catcher. The two subs who saw action were also seniors.
“All year long, the one thing I’ll give the seniors who weren’t starters credit for is they did come up big when asked to, including yesterday,” Taylor said. “There were hits from Tory Perez, Ellie Rhoads and Amanda Taylor. Angelina Refice might have had two hits.
“Jess D’Agostino, who plays third base, threw one of their players out at home and made a nice defensive play when the game was still in the balance. They had a runner on third and hit a hard ground ball, and she made a nice play and threw a perfect strike to the catcher, Becca Cassel.”
While the Flying Cardinals closed out their year with a 4-16 record, the Bucks were 2-17.
“We’re trying to get some excitement around the program,” Taylor said. “It’s tough to do with our record, it’s tough to do in the conference we’re in.
“Maybe next year we can get five wins, and before you know it, you’re stealing a couple of conference games and might be .500.
“It would have been a real downer if we couldn’t have gotten a win on our Senior Day. Even though we already had a win, that was long forgotten, and we needed to win that last game.”
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